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Stephen Hawking's first official app teaches the basics of the universe

Stephen Hawking has gone to great lengths to promote science through books and videos, but he has been conspicuously absent in the software world -- until now, that is. The astrophysicist has just teamed up with Random House on Snapshots of the Universe, his first official app. The $5 iPad title teaches the fundamentals of space through mini games: players learn about G-force with Einstein, put planets into orbit and come to grips with the theory of relativity. Particularly curious users can go deeper with both video explanations from Hawking as well as old-fashioned text. Snapshots is no substitute for reading A Brief History of Time, but it may inspire young scientists to learn more.